Potential Craigslist Buy

I'm learning how to code and want to buy myself a machine that will smoothly run xcode. Which macbook pro 13"/15" will smoothly run the current version of xcode? I'm looking to either buy one from craigslist or from Apple's refurbished section. My budget is around $1300

XCode is not a very resource intensive application. The only thing to worry about is that the computer needs to run the most up to date OS X version because Apple likes to restrict Xcode to only run on the latest OS. But that's a moot point because even my old crusty 2008 MBP was running Mavericks just fine, and was used for several years for software development (I only upgraded because the screen hinge was barely holding on).

In other words, any machine made in the last 3 years (and possibly more) will run Xcode just fine.

XCode is not a very resource intensive application. The only thing to worry about is that the computer needs to run the most up to date OS X version because Apple likes to restrict Xcode to only run on the latest OS. But that's a moot point because even my old crusty 2008 MBP was running Mavericks just fine, and was used for several years for software development (I only upgraded because the screen hinge was barely holding on).

In other words, any machine made in the last 3 years (and possibly more) will run Xcode just fine.

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Thank you for the quick reply! Maybe I should just save some cash and buy myself a 13" macbook pro.

Does this means you can't compile an app you wrote using an older XCode and have it run on more recent systems?

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An app originally compiled for an older SDK will still run on a new system, as long as there are no specific incompatibilities between your code and the new SDK. To make sure there are no such incompatibilities, you would have to download the newest version of Xcode and compile and test it with that.

Generally, if you want to reduce the amount of work you have to do to make your apps work well with newly released OS versions, you should stick to published API and avoid using anything that looks like a hack or relies on unpublished features.

A common occurrence when running older apps on new systems is that things seem to work, but some features might be broken - cannot predict what it will be unless you explicitly test it.

I'm learning how to code and want to buy myself a machine that will smoothly run xcode. Which macbook pro 13"/15" will smoothly run the current version of xcode? I'm looking to either buy one from craigslist or from Apple's refurbished section. My budget is around $1300

I found this potential craigslist buy.

Price- $1075.00

Mid 2012 Macbook Pro 15.4" (No Applecare)

Macbook Pro 15.4"

2.3ghz i7

8gb of ram,

256gb Solid State Drive

Should I go for it?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

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If you are planning on optimizing your applications for Retina, then I recommend a rMBP. Either way, you really can't go wrong. If you want, check out Apple Refurb as they carry the same everything as a new one including a warranty and the ability to add AppleCare.

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